MORIMURA Yasumasa

Yasumasa Morimura is a contemporary Japanese appropriation artist whose work consists of inserting his face and body into portraits of historical artists and celebrities. Similarly to American photographer Cindy Sherman, Morimura uses extensive props and digital manipulation to create his images, resulting in often-uncanny recreations of iconic works. “Taking photographs is generally an act of 'looking at the object, whereas 'being seen' or 'showing' is what is of most interest to one who does a self-portrait,” he has explained. “Self-portraits deny not only photography itself, but the 20th century as an era as well.” Born on June 11, 1951 in Osaka, Japan, the majority of his practice focuses on characters from Western history, especially women. Simultaneously reverent and satirical, his self-portraits manages to skewer traditional notions of beauty while revealing a deep appreciation for the art he appropriates. Morimura's work has been collected by numerous prominent public and private collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. He currently lives and works in Osaka, Japan.